Chandos’s Halvorsen series continues genially on its way.
We’re up to volume four (see below for links to the first
three volumes). He’s not a composer one could ever charge
with the crime of pretentiousness, and his folk-based, evocative
compositions generally have the merit of brevity and wit.

There are two Rhapsodie norvégienne dating from
1920. The brisk, avuncular threading together of folk fiddle
and more meditative ‘mediaeval’ panels works surprisingly
well in the first of the two. There’s much ripe romanticism
ending with the opening material now transformed into a halling.
Halvorsen was an adept orchestrator but not one to be lavish
for its own sake, which is what ensures that the second Rhapsodie
shares a similarly structurally sound basis, and the hardanger
fiddle imitations are well integrated; fresh air verve is the
name of the game. Felicitous appreciation of source material
means also that his orchestration of Grieg’s Norwegian
Bridal Procession comes off well.

To provide variety, we have the famous Passacaglia from
Handel’s Keyboard Suite No.7. This violin and viola duo
favourite was dedicated to Adolf Brodsky, Halvorsen’s
violin teacher in Leipzig, It gets a respectable, though slightly
odd reading from the Bergen Philharmonic’s principals
Melina Mandozzi (violin) and Ilze Klava (viola). It’s
very daringly spun out in places and at only just past seven
minutes in length still falls a bit flat. A suitable corrective
comes from old school fiddlers unafraid of bravado - Heifetz
and Primrose, for instance, or Sammons and Tertis.

The Dance Scene from Queen Tamara is a bit Borodinesque,
and its oriental or exotic cast comes as something of a shock
given the orthodox folkloric influences normally exerted on
Halvorsen in the first decade of the twentieth century. But
then there is also the strange case of the Symphonic Intermezzo
from The King, composed in 1902. This is deeply chromatic
and very obviously Wagnerian opus, dramatic and intense, which
stands at a strong remove from the light-hearted music that
surrounds it.

The Norwegian Festival Overture is not especially solemn;
in fact it’s quietly amusing. Grieg is known to have liked
it. More Hardanger fiddle appears in the Norwegian Fairy
Tale Pictures of 1922, in which Halvorsen mines the tropes
- can you mine a trope? - of Norwegian folk tales: antique atmosphere,
troll dances, forests.

Neeme Järvi throughout directs with rich and romantic warmth
but no little rhythmic snap too, and the Bergen Philharmonic
has been excellently recorded. Most enjoyable.

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